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Fret saw cuts veneer held on a "bird's mouth." Cutting is done near the apex where there is good support. Jig would be tilted for a bevel cut. surface. The blade of the saw (with the teeth pointed down) is placed close to the vertex of the "V". The saw is moved up and down in a stationary position as the veneer is fed into the blade. The main disadvantage with the hand-saw technique is that it takes much practice to hold the saw with one hand and move the veneer with the other so that an acccurate cut can be made on the pattern line. This disadvantage is overcome (at considerable cost, however,) by the use of a power jig saw. For marquetarians, the main requirements in such a saw are special chucks for holding the jeweler's blades, a tilting table, and a foot switch that frees both hands. To my knowledge, only Rockwell makes a jig saw that can be adapted to take jeweler's blades. The popular Dremel saw does not adapt ; neither does the Sears. Another desirable feature is tension adjustment, but if this is not available, a weaker spring can be substituted above the top clamp to help keep the blades from breaking too easily. Average throat size is usually between inches. The various cutting methods The choice of the cutting method is partially determined 16 by the tools available. If a power jig saw is available, then any of the four basic methods can be used ; but if only a knife is available, the so-called double-cut methods are ruled out. The single-piece method The simplest of the methods (but the most difficult to get a perfect fit) is the single-piece method. Basically, one Xerox or carbon copy of the pattern must be made for each piece used in the pattern. The pattern (or portions of the pattern) are taped or glued to each of the selected veneers. (If glued, cut the picture from the back or in reverse ; otherwise the glue will impregnate the veneer and show as blemishes in the final picture.) As each piece is cut, it is laid on a master pattern, and the pieces are held together temporarily with masking tape. The fret saw or power jig saw is recommended for this method, but a knife can also be used. The obvious 34 and 24 Jig saw modified for bevel marquetry cutting . Original work hold-downs are gone. Thin metal sheet with small hole for jeweler'S blades to go through is glued to original top. disadvantage of the method is the difficulty in cutting exactly on the lines to insure perfect fitting joints. Since each piece is cut independently of the others, a poor fit can easily occur. The window method A partial way around this disadvantage is through the so-called window method. Instead of cutting all the pieces independently of each other using many copies of one pattern, and then putting them together on a master pattern, the pieces are cut consecutively from a single pattern. The pattern is traced onto the background veneer using carbon paper. The background could be one or more pieces put together. (If the pattern is taped or hinged along the top of the background veneer, it will always be in register, should additional tracings be made onto the veneer.) Larger pieces in the pattern are cut out of the background first. As each piece is cut and removed, a veneer selected for that part is placed under the opening and moved until the grain direction and figure are in their most pleasing and natural position. The piece is then taped temporarily on the back, turned over, and marked along the edge of the opening with a sharp pencil or knife. The veneer is then removed from the back and cut on the markings. It is then permanently placed in the opening and taped in place on the back side. Each part is done in this manner until the entire picture is completely cut. The advantage of this popular method is that each veneer can be seen in position before it is cut, and both a knife or saw can be used. But the disadvantage, as with the previous method, is that accurate fitting is difficult because the pieces still are not cut simultaneously. The pad method A third method, the pad method, tries to get around this disadvantage by making a single cut ; that is, by cutting all the pieces at once as in a jig saw puzzle. Several pieces of soft waste veneer at least the size of the finished picture are stacked together into a "pad," and the good veneers are interleaved among them for the cutting. To